and a few more....

In pictures.....

East Asian Games.....Go Tigers !!!

It has been a crazy busy few weeks and so I am skipping a WHOLE lot of news and jumping to this weekend....

our 3 boys played warm up exhibition matches both yesterday and today at the East Asian Games which were held in HK this weekend.

We were tremendously proud of how they played , just half way through their first season and they coped well with being in the big stadium.

As a highlight they each got a special East Asian Games medal, which, to their way of thinking, puts them up there with Olympic medalists :)

Our hero! Congratulations Dad

We had good cause to celebrate today.

Mark graduated his MBA from Macquarie University in the Grand Ballroom at the Hyatt Hotel in HK. Due to ticketing limitations only Maddie and I were able to attend, and then the whole gang including the boys went out to lunch afterwards to help celebrate.

Mark not only received his very special MBA but was further awarded the HKMA (Hong Kong Management Association) award for best performance overall in the MBA program!!

All those very many long hours of very hard work were finally rewarded.

before and after- Jasper the party Pooch

Our youngest baby marked a milestone this month- his very first birthday! Celebrated in style with a hat and his very first taste of cake (vanilla) he seemed to be very worn out by all the fuss.

How much fun can one puppy stand? Not much it seems, he flaked out!

Happy Halloween Disney style

We are enjoying some slightly cooler weather at the moment and so we decided to brave the golden week crowds yesterday and explore all that HK Disney has to offer for Halloween. We had a great day and it was even more fun because we started our very own TREASURE hunt.

This is treasure hunting HK style....let me explain. I know I have mentioned before , several times, but for those of you with memories like my own :).....local chinese people often choose a western name for themselves once they reach middle school age . We have had many opportunities to giggle at what we consider to be less than ideal choices in the past...such as Potato, Circle, Chaos, Average, Squirrel, Handy.....Ok so you get the idea??

Well as we entered the Park yesterday the young man at the gates name was "Gentle". We had a giggle and immediately came across another young fellow with the name "Man", and so the treasure hunt began. We started inspecting the name of every Cast member we came across and so the list grew. Those unfortunate enough to be blessed with regular names such as David and Roy were quickly forgotten, but pen and paper in hand , our "interesting choices" list grew and GREW.

So just to share a few.....

YY

Yennis

Paper

Kidsy

Fiann

Faat

Prerry

Miffy

Wing

Noble

Kapo

Blue

Wallance

Ring 

and.....Winson

Te he he, makes a fun day even more fun huh?

Lyon to Paris

We literally used Lyon as an overnight and when we wake today we breakfast then drive on through to Paris and stop in the early afternoon at the Palace of Versaille. A brief visit , a short look at the gardens behind the palace, and then a guided tour through the state apartments section including the hall of mirrors and the room where the treaty of Versaille was signed, as well as the royal bedrooms. We learned so much about the history of Louis the 14th, 15th and 16th , the Palace , the French revolution and the reign of terror.

On to Paris, check in to hotel then on to the Arc de Triomphe and dinner in a café on the Champs Elysee. After dinner and a little free time we go to our Seine Cruise and cruise for 90 mins before reboarding the bus and rushing to the Trocadero to see the flashing lights display on the hour. A short drive around Paris to see the illuminations the  back to the hotel. Collapse into bed……. At least we are in Paris another day so we don’t need to worry about suitcases tonight.

I had so much trouble trying to choose which photos to share with you. These really don't do justice to the beauty of this little village, just an overview.

8 am departure for a tour of the medieval walled village of St Paul (du Vence)- adopted home of Roger Moore, sadly he didn’t join us for coffee.

Every once in a  while you get a real surprise that is completely unexpected. This little walled village was just such a surprise for me. It was a little note in the itinerary and compared to the other “big” attractions I really hadn’t given it much thought. When we arrived here though I was completely in love with this charming , gorgeous, quaint……..need I go on, you get the idea.  A photographers delight, absolutely beautiful. It is built high on a hill surrounded by the beautiful vineyards and lavender fields of Provence. Built with a very thick impressive fortification  you enter the town through an arched gateway, complete with an  old defensive canon set into the wall- no cars in here- as you wander the narrow cobblestone streets and amidst the houses which are  hundreds of  years old. There are beautiful small galleries, patisseries, and grocery stores with their fresh produce in baskets on the pathways. There is a charming little cemetery and church and beautiful gift shops selling all manner of local specialties. I took around 3oo photos here in this one village!  Many famous artists have been drawn to this village for the beauty of the countryside  in the last few hundred years, including many of the very big impressionists, and there are Chagall sculptures in the street. This little village is apparently a modern draw card for the rich and famous when they come to Cannes for the film festival.  I can completely see why. We  leave  St Paul, walking out past the petonche park , at 11 am and drive north through the fields of Provence. Short stop for lunch at a services then on to Avignon for an afternoon stroll. We visit the Palace of the Popes and see the  famous bridge  (or half bridge really….) then reboard the bus and drive to Lyon. In our last trip Avignon was one of my very favourite  cities. Sadly, after the beauty of St Paul and the growth of the city, or maybe combined with the growth of my experiences it just didn’t live up to my memories. Still, a lot changes in 15 years huh?  Heavy traffic  on the outskirts of Lyon and finally we arrive at the hotel. Dinner booked for 8 pm. Long day of driving today. 

Anyone for Rugby????

The boys started their rugby "careers" two Sundays back.

So here they are trying out their new sport.

Who looks most like a tennis player?

OK, maybe it is just me but please humour me here. Who do you think looks most comfortable on the court? 

I have been watching the kids doing their tennis lessons and so maybe these photos just look a certain way to me because I have seen more than just one pic of each but I just thought these pics caught the essence of their lessons. 

Barber stool....

happy birthday to me :)

I first saw these when we first lived in HK and finally I have one, thanks to my recent birthday. This is such a special and interesting little curio I wanted to share it with you. 

This one is a restored antique, around one hundred years old although it is possible to get many  reproductions here sold as freshly made "authentic" antiques. 

But, I digress, it is a barber stool. It was used back in the days when barbers plyed their trade on the streets all over China. The bottom two drawers held their tools of trade, scissors ,combs etc and the top drawers collected the "coin" dropped through the slot on top as payment. 

Super cool huh??

So now we have a fun new spare coin storage for the house and I have a lovely new birthday gift.  happy birthday to me :)

Say what...............?

Living in HK I am mostly used to the ridiculous prices for most grocery items. I am even used, by now, to the very different names for regular items, like "buddhism melons" which are actually chokkoes.

But wait...............

A few days ago I walked through the local supermarket and in leaving noticed the imported watermelons from Japan. The Japanese fruit at this supermarket always looks lovely and is beautifully packaged and is E.X.P.E.N.S.I.V.E........ so I glanced back over my shoulder and was rather disgusted at the $999 price tag on the watermelons. I know they are special shapes, (pyramids, gourd shaped, heart shaped and one even had a face) but really, HKD$999 which is AUD $153 or USD$130....for 1 , yes, ONE watermelon. 

But wait, just as I was about to climb onto my high horse (where is that stool and stirrup???) I happened to walk back in through the same area and realised I had indeed misread the price tags. It wasn't actually $999 it was in actual fact $9999- 

I'll let you do the math but seriously we are talking thousands of dollars for a piece of fruit. 

Now I am truly disgusted- there is so much poverty in the world and I am in a city where we see people begging daily- how could the store justify offering such an obscenely overpriced item and what on earth would those people  who buy this fruit be thinking. Why not just donate the money to a good charity and have a whole regular watermelon for a few bucks????

Hi ho Silver.............

Pisa, Nice and Monaco.......

Day 11 

We have an early morning departure and then make a  stop at Pisa to view the famous leaning tower. The kids have a wonderful time taking photos with  many silly poses propping up the tower then 1 hour later we leave for the long drive along the Italian coast across the border into France and then onto Nice. We enjoyed  a Sunday  afternoon stroll along the waterfront of Nice , around the malls of  shops, some more gelato then on to the hotel. We freshen up before we have our  hotel dinner. This evening we take the optional tour to  Monte Carlo and Monaco with a local guide, Mirelle, (mee- ray) for the evening . We wander the garden in front of the Grand Casino, and have an hour to watch the sun go down and take photos of this very pretty spot. Kids in tow we obviously didn’t venture into the casino but instead filled our time looking at the beautiful fountains and gardens. The cars were impressive- although I must say, living in Hong Kong, seeing flashy luxury sports cars is no big deal as we see them here daily.  The coastline from Nice into Monaco is fabulous- we drove past Cap Ferat , saw many famous name houses and ogled the luxury boats. Wow.  When we arrived in Monte Carlo we drove past the preparations for the upcoming Grand Prix and even walked part of the street circuit on our stroll up to the casino.... then  finally back to the hotel.  We finally fall into bed around 10 pm.

Nice is indeed Nice, but our kids are used to the fabulous beaches we have in Australia so did they love  the pebble beach and deckchairs- not so much!!!! The gelato was a much bigger hit.